Bruce Keough is a conservative businessman who lives in Dublin, NH with his wife Jane and their two children.

Bruce was born and raised in Berlin, NH, and was educated in the city's public school system. He went on to earn degrees from Dartmouth College and Yale University.

Bruce started out his career as an executive in a Hampton-based environmental services company, helping to make it one of the most successful of its kind.

In 1994, Bruce was elected to the State Senate. He was the first Republican to win his district's seat in over 20 years.

There, Bruce quickly gained a reputation as a budget hawk and his work was key in crafting the historic 1995 budget which, for the first time in decades, was less than the budget for the previous biennium.

Following his senate term, Governor Merrill appointed Bruce to the board of trustees of the University System of New Hampshire, where he was twice elected chairman by fellow trustees.

Under his leadership, annual tuition increases were brought under control, while expanding capital improvements for students.

In 2002, he ran for Governor with a plan to fix an education funding system that was unfair, broken, and out-of-control.

His innovative plan to eliminate the statewide property tax without a sales or an income tax earned praise from the media and from political leaders and average citizens throughout the state.

His spirited, positive and issues-oriented campaign won praise from tens of thousands of voters who rallied to his cause, and he came within a few percentage points of beating a GOP primary opponent who had vastly outspent him.